Fluctuations of light intensity in coron Æ formed by diffraction

Abstract

The fluctuations of light intensity in the diffraction corona produced by a large number of randomly distributed particles are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical considerations show that the view put forward by de Haas is inadequate and that really the fluctuations arise owing to the interference of the waves diffracted by all the particles, which gives rise to a large number of sharp images of the source in monochromatic light. In white light, these spots must spread out, and produce radial streaks. These deductions from theory are all borne out by experiment.